Are you in the market for a house that you can flip? Do you want to learn all that you can about how to make a profit out of restoring a house? It’s important to pay attention to the details during your search by hiring a home inspector.
In fact, one of the first items on your house flip checklist should be to hire a professional home inspector. They can look into the home’s structure, foundation, windows, doors, roof, electrical components, and much more to assess the situation.
Be sure to see below for all the reasons why you should schedule a house flip inspection before you close on a home.
1. More Knowledge of the Situation
There are tremendous differences between a regular home inspection and a house flip inspection.
With a typical home inspection, you’re looking for any monumental flaws that might deter you from purchasing the property. With a house flip inspection, you know the house has its flaws. In fact, you’re counting on them.
Therefore, the name of the game in house flipping inspections is educating yourself on the type of house flip project you’re committing yourself to. There’s a fine line between “needs some work” and “will cost too much to fix up”.
Remember, for house flipping, you’re looking to find a house that needs a substantial amount of work (so that you can buy low), but not so much that you’d break even or come up in the red after flipping the property.
If you let your home inspector know of your intentions ahead of time, they can adjust their report to let you know if it’s an ideal property for house flipping or not.
2. All Aspects Are Inspected
It’s important to remember that home inspectors shouldn’t be hired to perform specialized inspections such as a roof inspection or foundation inspection. They’re certified to take a look at all aspects of the house, but not specialized in one specific area.
That said, they allow you to hire a certified professional that can provide an overview of any facet of the house.
They’ll look at your floors, bathrooms, kitchens, HVAC unit, electrical setup, plumbing, roof, windows, foundation, and more. Then, once they’ve taken a look at everything, they will summarize what they found in a helpful report.
That report will give you a better understanding of the work that needs to be done. They will let you know which factors would need immediate attention and which can be solved with a remodel (such as kitchen and bathroom issues).
3. Experience in the Field
It’s very important that you do not hire a home inspector just because they were the first ones you came across. You need to look into their service and experience level before committing to using them.
Finding an experienced home inspector is of the utmost importance. The more homes they’ve inspected, the fewer surprises that they’ll come across. They’ll have a trained eye to identify potentially big problems and stories to go with it.
Fewer issues are missed with an experienced house flip inspector. They can keep a sharp eye out for problems the current owner or agent is trying to hide from you.
Whenever you come across a home inspector that you’re interested in hiring, be sure to ask how many homes that they’ve inspected.
If you need a bit more validation on their service and experience level, ask them if they have any references that you could call. There you’ll have the chance to talk with their previous clients and ask any questions that you have. Be sure to take advantage.
4. Confidence in Your Investment
Investing in house flipping is much different than purchasing a home that you intend to move into for the long haul. You might take out a large loan with the intention of paying it back after you flip the house.
For those of you that haven’t done it before, that can be a stressful experience. There will always be a bit of risk involved with house flipping.
However, you can minimize that risk by hiring an experienced home inspector for the property you’re wanting to flip.
After having a home inspection performed on a house you’re thinking of buying (with the intention of flipping), you’ll have more confidence to purchase it. It solidifies your investment and increases your chances of gaining a maximum ROI on the house you flip.
5. Recommendations on Where to Start
This is yet another benefit of hiring an experienced home inspector rather than one that’s relatively new to the trade.
An experienced inspector won’t just point out the problems of the home that you’re interested in investing in, they’ll give you pointers on where to start.
While they might not be specialized in any particular aspect of the house, they have a network they can use to fill your need.
For example, the home you’re interested in might have some glaring issues with its electrical setup. If so, the home inspector can direct you to a few of his trusted connections that can correct those problems for you.
House Flip Checklist: Don’t Buy Before Hiring a Home Inspector
Now that you’ve seen an in-depth description of why hiring a home inspector should be the top priority of your house flip checklist, be sure to find the right one for the job.
Be sure to read this article for more information on the 7 different roofing issues that a home inspector can help you identify.
For more inquiries, please be sure to schedule an inspection online and we will be happy to assist you further.